Misconduct Committed By Sheriff Gabriel Bruno In Rhode Island Courts

Sheriff Gabriel Bruno accused of putting feces in judges' sinks

1-26-02 Deputy Sheriff Gabriel Bruno of Smithfield is
charged with two counts of vandalism. State police yesterday
announced the arrest of a deputy sheriff who was accused of twice
depositing feces in sinks in the chambers of two judges at Superior
Court in Providence. Gabriel Bruno, 63, of Smithfield,
turned himself in at the Lincoln barracks on Wednesday, according
to Maj. Michael P. Quinn. Bruno was brought before Bail
Commissioner Richard Finnegan on two counts of vandalism.
Finnegan released him pending a pretrial conference Feb. 8.
Finnegan set Feb. 22 as the date for his trial. Finnegan said
he knew of no motive for the offenses, and said it had not been
determined whether the feces was human or artificial.

Update To CrapGate

To Joseph F. Rodgers Jr. , it was an
evident breach of security, [example at right] requiring immediate intervention by the
state police. To Gabriel Bruno, it was a harmless Christmas time
prank that invoked the name of a beloved reindeer. The object
of their attention was something appreciated by Rodgers's
colleagues, but not by Rodgers himself.

As presiding justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court, Rodgers
outranks Bruno, a deputy sheriff. Bruno, who is a year from
retirement with what he says is an untarnished service record of 21
years, now faces trial on charges of vandalism for what he says was
a gag: He twice placed feces -- Bruno says it was fake stuff of the
joke-store variety -- in judges' chambers at the Licht Judicial
Complex. State police have declined to say whether the substance
was real or artificial.

"I'm caught between a rock and a hard place," Bruno said. "It was a
joke that went bad. Everybody thought it was funny except the big
boss, Judge Rodgers." Bruno was hauled before a bail
commissioner last week and released pending a pretrial conference
Feb. 8. He is to be tried Feb. 22 in District Court.
Rodgers said yesterday that Bruno tripped himself up. When
Rodgers ordered the Sheriff's Department to investigate, Bruno
denied that he was the culprit, Rodgers recounted, leaving the
chief judge no choice but to assume that some unauthorized person
had gained access to the judges' chambers, a potentially dangerous
situation. He notified the state police. An investigation by
detectives followed swiftly, as did the charges.

Bruno said that despite Rodgers's contention about a denial, no one
from the Sheriff's Department even asked him about the incidents.
He said that when state police detectives showed up at the
courthouse after the second of the Dec. 24 and Jan. 8 incidents, it
was the first time he had been questioned. He said he immediately
acknowledged that he had done the deed. He said the investigators
at first indicated they would recommend an administrative remedy --
punishment by reprimand or suspension -- rather than press a
criminal case. He said he was shocked when charges were filed
against him last week. "Now it looks like I'm some kind of
maniac defecating in judges' sinks," he said.

It all began, Bruno said, when someone used the toilet in Judge
Joseph A. Keough Sr.'s chambers and failed to flush. [See example on right] The judge was
"a little upset," Bruno said, and Bruno decided to introduce some
humor to the occasion. He bought a Christmas stocking from a
Pocasset Avenue costume shop that also stocks joke items. The
stocking bore the name Rudolph. Inside were what Bruno called "deer
pellets." He placed one of these on the seat of Judge Stephen P.
Nugent's toilet. "He started yelling in a good-natured way,"
Bruno recalled. "We all thought it was funny, then. I actually
picked it up and threw it to him. He put it in a candy dish."
The folks on the bench at Superior Court, Bruno said, "are
nice people -- down-to-earth people." Judge Keough, "a nice guy who
could take a joke," was selected as his next target. "I put
it in his sink," he said.

But Bruno said the joke backfired when Rodgers found out about
it. "The next day Judge Keough sees me, and says they are
calling the state police," Bruno said. "I just laughed. I thought
they were kidding me." Two detectives showed up the next day
at Superior Court. "I walked up to the troopers and said, 'I
did this. I did it, so what? It was a joke that went bad.' I said I
was willing to sign a confession." Bruno said his job history
is clear. "I haven't had a speeding ticket in all my life,"
he said, "but here I am at 64 years old, getting ready to retire,
and I have [an] arrest. This is hard on my kids, my family."
Bruno said that his bid for humor was not unprecedented, that there
is a culture of back-room kidding in the otherwise stern atmosphere
of Superior Court. "We went into the former presiding judge's
chambers and hung a Yankee pennant above his desk, because he's a
Red Sox fan," he said. "He never called the state troopers. He let
it hang there a week. "In this business, if you don't relax a
bit you are going to break. All you see is misery down there. If
you don't have a sense of humor you are not going to make it down
there."

Executive High Sheriff James P. DeCastro said that Bruno will
remain on duty pending an internal investigation in the Sheriff's
Department. Bruno said the evidence was tossed out before the
state police began their probe. "They don't have any of this
stuff," he said. "I suppose I could say it was cotton candy and
they'd have to believe me." Nevertheless, he said, he has
already gone back to the store to buy another batch of the
offending material, just to show the judge at his trial.
"Maybe it was stupid. Maybe it was the wrong type of joke. But it
wasn't criminal. I didn't want to hurt anybody, and everybody knows
that, except a couple of guys, obviously. "I've got kids and
grandchildren. If you want to call me a thief that's one thing, but
to say I defecated in sinks -- that's something else. "I
know it hurts my case to speak to a reporter, but I can't live with
this. I would rather spend time in prison than have my name ripped
around as some kind of nut like that. "I did a very stupid
thing. I've been with the system a long time, and I've never seen
them out to get somebody as much as me, and I can't understand
that. It was a joke. I said I was awfully sorry, but other jokes
have been played. Certainly I regret it happening. If I could go
back, I wouldn't do it again."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Many times the reason or purpose for events in our life initially escapes us,but I am certain we can find reason and/or purpose in everything that happens!

It takes a short time to learn to exercise power, but a lifetime to learn how to avoid abusing it.

We are no longer a country of laws, we are a country where laws are "creatively interpreted."